Differing Paths
by otakuXmetalXstorm
Summary: Tomo is a top detective, brought on by Tokyo police for only the most difficult cases and well known as a loose cannon. But, will an ingenious, wakizashi-wielding cat burglar be her final case? Rated M for sexual themes, gore and violence.
1. Chapter 1

Differing Paths...

Chapter One

The room was dark. At the front, before the lone fluorescent light, was Chief Inspector Miyama. "There have been several dissappearances, largely around museums and art galleries throughout Tokyo. A classic cat burglar, thoughthis suspect seems to have his own tricks.". Miyama paused to let what he was about to say sink in. "He... takes no prisoners. There have been a total of three killed, usually eyewitnesses, out of seven incidents. And... with what our forensic evidence team has deciphered as a wakizashi.". The numerous investigators in the room wore shocked expressions. One voice rang out, "Has there been any security footage or any surviving eyewitnesses?". "No,", Miyama replied, "the operations have been prepared perfectly, with any exceptions being wiped out.". Miyama's assisant, Shinji, whispered to him, "I think we need... the scrapbook.". Miyama's jaw dropped. They had never used anyone from the scrapbook this early into a case, but he had a point. This perpetrator had almost supernatural levels of foresight, prepared for anything thrown at them. This, along with the grace in their movements, made them impossible to find. Miyama called the meeting to a close, and he and Shinji retired to a room in the back. "So, which should we use?", he asked, knowing that had Shinji had someone in mind when he said to use someone from the scrapbook. Shinji looked over, and said, "I was thinking, we may need to call... _him._". Miyama's face froze, merely thinking that a relatively minor case such as this would require the greatest they had, and if it would be an interesting enough case to warrant something like that. "Don't be so hasty in using our ace-in-the-hole, Shinji.", he said with a cold disposition. "I can agree that we need to call upon one of our specialists for this case, but we don't just have _his _speed-dial. But... I think I know the specialist for the job.". "Who?", Shinji asked. He was unaware of most of the other specialists, who hadn't achieved the same legendary status as who he was suggesting. "A loose-cannon. Her skill is matched only by her disregard for everything outside herself.". Miyama picked up the phone.

It was two A.M. in a fairly small apartment in a suburb of Tokyo. The walls mostly clean, with a few shelves spread throughout, a lone, uncovered matress in the corner of the room, a bathroom, and some cooking equipment in the hallway leading in, Two women, in their early twenties, lay draped over each other in the bed. They weren't lovers, though it would be easy to confuse them for such. They merely couldn't afford another bed, let alone the space to fit it. They were more than comfortable with this. They had known each other since grade school, and though they didn't seem like it, they trusted each other more than anyone. Drape-er was Tomo Takino, a specialist with a number of Japanese police organizations. Essentially, a mercenary detective to be brought in for especially difficult cases. The job entailed a few days of high-paid, incredibly high-stress work. She was given the job due to her short stint as a volunteer police officer, in which she managed to solve more than the rest of the small, single-area force she worked for combined. Between this and using her lunch breaks to become a deadeye shot, and her affinity towards low amounts of work, it was a natural fit. Drape-ee was Koyomi Mizuhara, out of college and working a new part-time deadend job every week while waiting for her now months-overdue official diploma. Suddenly, they were both awakened by Tomo's cell phone, playing a theme tune from a popular magical girl anime, as well as her phone could do it with its bleep-bloop speakers. Tomo nearly jumped out of bed. She didn't take the awakening well. "What the hell do you want?", she growled in a state of half-conciousness. "Hello, Tomo.", Miyama said. Tomo suddenly became awake, suddenly realizing what was happening, "What is it, Chief Miyama?". "We need your help in a case regarding a cat-burglar. We need you immediately.", he said, emphasizing the gruff undertone of his voice. "Yomi, I have to go...", she whispered. Koyomi rolled over, with a brief mutter of "Good luck.". She put on her headphones, blasting "God Save the Queen". She was off.

3:00 AM

Tomo finally arrived at the station. Miyama gave her a cup of tea, and they sat in his office. "So, some klepto gave you guys the slip.", she said, giving her trademark smirk. The hyperactivity had lowered from her teenage years, but the sarcasm and chaotic nature hadn't. Miyama could see in her eyes that she was a volatile resource, and that preperations for many an apology and many a public damage form were needed. But, that was what they needed. She was the most agile and skilled at combat, as well as the specialist with the most personal foresight on a scene. "If you want to phrase it that way, yes.", Miyama replied, "The next predicted attack is this Tuesday at the Opera City Art Gallery, where a limited renaissance piece will be shown. It's value is nearing priceless on the market, and it's loss would be a severe one for us all here.". He stared at her for a second or two. "Alright, I'll take.", Tomo said, aware that it was them needing her help and that she could quit at any time. "But,", Miyama had a mini-heart attack in that quarter-of-a-second, "I have two conditions. First, tell me about the suspect. Name, appearance, anything?". Miyama breathed a sigh of relief, and replied, "They are known for predicting security systems, guards, everything perfectly, and killing any eyewitnesses with a wakizashi. Yet, despite this flamboyant manner of killing, and taking no hostages, the suspect has never been seen.". Tomo stared Miyama down, knowing she was still on the upper hand, that Miyama was waiting desperately for a second condition. "My second condition is...", Miyama had another minor palpitation from the suspense, "...give me Patty and Liz.". "What?", he answered back, doing so at the same time as another sigh. "My guns. From the last case.". Her last case was as a police bodyguard for a political figure suspicious of assassination. For this, she was granted whatever weapons she wanted. Her choice: a pair of 12-bullet revolvers, one golden, one silver. It was extravagant, but if she could get whatever she wanted, why not? "You know, the revolvers. Since I may need to perform in a potentially-deadly situation this time.". She had a point. The man she guarded previously was a paranoid wreck, and there was no reason to protect him, other than to make him feel safe. She also got a taste of all of his food, a nice bonus, and a fat paycheck, so she couldn't complain. But she felt bad about her non-use of the guns. Miyama had the guns sitting in his display shelf, since he couldn't let such beautiful weapons go to waste. He brought them down, and gave the velvet case where they laid to her. Tomo's face lit up, and she jutted her hand out, nearly punching Miyama in the gut. He looked down and grabbed her hand firmly. They shook, and Tomo grinned mischieviously, saying as the shake broke, "Alright. Tuesday, rooftop of the Opera City Gallery, we catch a cat.".

Author's Note: This is merely the first chapter, this is just build-up, don't judge it right off the bat. Positive criticism is gladly accepted, and I really hope to do some more with this. Got the plot pretty much in mind, will be updating sporadically.

Thanks for reading.


	2. Chapter 2

Differing Paths...

Chapter Two

Tomo, Miyama, and a group of snipers sat atop the Opera City Art Gallery. They were prepared for the cat to strike, and the snipers ahd their guns at the ready. "Alright," Tomo said to the group, "Here's the plan. Judging by what we know about the other burglaries, the perpetrator uses rooftops to enter the buildings they're stealing from. So, we're going to pin them down with sniper fire, while I chase after 'em. I'll fire off a few of my own, then you guys go through all your bullets trying to hit 'em while they're out in the open. I'll save a few of my own for if none of that works.". "How are we going bring them in with that plan?", Miyama asked, prepared for the answer he was about to get. "Bring 'em _what?_No, no, no, they're going to die. I'm sure of it!", she said, grinning and giving a thumbs-up. The entire team was quite a bit unnerved at her readiness to kill suspects, particularly Miyama. "I know from experience that she's a loose cannon,", he thought to himself, "but a never thought she was this... _crazy._". Tomo ran towards the edge of the rooftop, and jumped. Miyama ran after her, unaware of what she was doing. She landed on the next rooftop over, gave him the thumbs-up again, and began running between the rooftops. She saw a suspicious shadow far off, and was now running, though no one had any idea. One of the snipers realized quickly, and looked in the direction she was moving through his scope. He saw a plain, person shaped shadow running from roof to roof, silhouetted against the lights, and fired off. It was as though this person had known their strategy, as they moved perfectly to a lower-level rooftop, where they couldn't be hit by sniper fire. The lucky sniper informed the others of this, and a few of them fired off warning shots. Miyama picked up his phone. "Hello? We need a helicopter in Shunjuku for a major investigation going on right now.". The line told him there was one on its way. "Hopefully, we can catch this guy without killing him.", he thought to himself, hoping that Tomo would keep the chaos to a minimum. Tomo hadn't felt this kind of adrenaline in years. She saw the shadow and that they were pinned down by sniper fire, as expected. The person was wearing a massive hood, covering their face and preventing their body structure from being revealed. The person saw Tomo coming. "Interesting. This certainly wasn't planned for.", the per thought to themselves. They ran to the next rooftop, moving in erratic patterns to dodge sniper fire. Tomo kept running, jumping from roof to roof, always a few behind her opponent. "Damn, they're fast.", she thought to herself. She slowed down, but kept going, and fired off two shots. The suspect fell as she did. "Ah, the satisfaction of justice...", she thought to herself. She ran as quickly as she could to the perpetrator. She finally arrived, and had planned a course of action. She was going to lift the hood, and shoot them in the head, just to make sure. She began moving the hood, but felt the movement of air around her ankle. A wakizashi, hidden in the hood, came out, and slashed at Tomo's ankle. Tomo, feeling the air, jumped across the roof, the sword missing. "I knew you were playing dead!", she yelled as she landed. The two were now seperated by the length of the rooftop. "This has to end now.", Tomo thought to herself, "The perp has nothing but a sword, and I can fire at a distance. The advantage is all mine.". Suddenly, she felt a strange feeling of remorse for the person. She had killed planty of criminals in the past, but this seemed... different. Was this guilt? Tomo sure as hell didn't know. She fired at the suspect, wondering what had happened to the sniper fire. The suspect dodged her shots with amazing grace. They then ran over rooftops, back towards the gallery. The snipers were out of ammunition, Miyama had left, and knew they would be killed if they stayed, so they ran into the gallery and out onto the street, where they would be safe. The person arrived on the gallery roof, and prepared to dig their sword into the massive skylight on top of the building. Tomo jumped, went into a laying postion in midair, and began firing at the suspect wildly. One of the bullets put a small hole in the skylight, setting off the alarm. The people inside began running about and panicking. Tomo ran at the suspect, and shot once more. She now only had eleven bullets, and the two were trapped in close-range. Tomo fired with both guns, at two different and erratic angles, making them hard to dodge. Yet, the burglar was able to dodge the shots, and get across the now-fragile damaged skylight with agility like Tomo had never seen. This person had clearly mastered the art of moving with grace, as they ran across the skylight with incredibly light footsteps, jumped onto the rooftop entrance, and jumped at Tomo, sword at the ready. Tomo began firing off shots, all of which the perpetrator slashed straight through with their blade. They took a swing at Tomo's jaw with it, which she blocked with the extended barrels of her revolvers. Tomo kicked the person in the chest, sending them flying backwards into the rooftop entrance. She gave two careless shots for the head while the person was on the ground. Luckily for the suspect, they missed. The person got up and began running towards Tomo, seemingly without regard for their own life. Tomo had five bullets left, and knewthat this person would stop coming, so she only fired one shot. "Just as planned.", the perpetrator thought to themselves. They dodged, and slashed at Tomo's chest. The blade cut through her jacket, slicing into Tomo's skin. Fortunately, it was a quick, shallow cut, and the only thing holding Tomo back because of it was the burning pain. But for someone like Tomo, pain merely drives them further. She let off two shots, releasing half of her bullets carelessly. She felt the cold wind going into her wound, the cut being deep enough to expose the skin on the side of her chest through her jacket. She ran to the other side of the perp, and tried to shoot them in the back, but they turned around instantaneously, faster than any movement Tomo had seen before. The shadowy figure had their blade at the ready the whole time. Life went into slow motion for Tomo. "I-I... messed up. They knew I would do that, and they knew they had the time to slash.". Her thoughts soon went into pain, fear and rage the moment the blade struck. The person had taken an awfully wide slash, the blade hitting Tomo in the bottom of her eyelid, splitting it open. She released a scream of agony, and fell to the ground. She could feel her right eye, damaged and blind. Her left was misty with shock. Tomo felt a massive light coming over her. "This... must be death..." she thought, desperately, "No... More... time...". She gave a whimper on the ground. She stood up and screamed as hard as she could, "_I hope this gets to you, you fucking asshole!"_. She fired off the remaining two shots into the air, where she could feel a presence. The bullets pierced through the bottom of the newly-arrived helicopter, and hit its driver in the head and chest, respectively. The copter immediately lost control, and smashed through the skylight, killing Miyama, the driver, and twenty-seven gallery staff and guards. Tomo's left eye came out of shock, and she looked around. The building was on fire, the perpetrator leaving their typical mark, a small symbol carved into the wall next to an opened grate, and the hood lying on the ground. She once again collapsed, and started crying. The cries soon turned into screams of rage. She sat on the ground, her eye still severely bleeding, surrounded by flames. She whispered to herself, "Wherever you are, whoever you are, I will find you. And I will kill you.". She was soon airlifted down and taken to hospital.

_Author's Note: _Working awfully quickly! Hopefully things get a little lessy downer-y soon.


	3. Chapter 3

Differing Paths...

Chapter Three

Two weeks had passed. Tomo's eye had mostly healed, but it still hard to see with it. The doctors commented on the speed of her healing, and even that she survived due to the level of blood loss, almost as though she had healed through pure determination. She had sat there, scowling, having Yomi come in when she could to talk. No one at the hospital knew what had happened, just that she was top-priority with a massive eye wound, and she never spoke or broke her expression except when she had guests. The doctors were prepared to let her out, but they were afraid that she may not be as healed as she seemed. Tomo knew that she was. She felt like she herself had sculpted the new skin over days and was prepared to go on the investigation at full-strength. There was barely even a scar. Suddenly, in the middle of her daily six-hour scowling session, someone entered. Not her doctor, and definitely not Yomi, who was in classes and working until late at night. It was Miyama's old assistant, Shinji, who had recently been promoted to Chief Inspector due to his friend's death. Tomo's scowl continued as she broke out a few words, "Hello, Shinji.". "Hello.", Shinji said, holding back the anger he felt over the death of his mentor and superior. He knew that it was her negligence that got him killed, and was trying not to reach his hands around her neck. "It seems that you've healed nicely,", he continued, "but, the force wants you to come into court.". "What?", Tomo exclaimed, finally breaking her stone face she had been wearing for weeks. "Well, the crash of that helicopter caused the deaths of twenty-seven innocent civilians, as well as Miyama and Sho Amaterasu, a low-level cop flying that helicopter.". Tomo's face stayed straight. "Hmph. It was the damn robber's fault.". Shinji's fist clenched, wishing he could severely hurt this person. "Either way," he said, "it would be in your best interest to come to court for this hearing.". Tomo stared off to the side angrily. "Alright,", she said not heeding to giving Shinji eye contact, "but I demand your best attorney.". They agreed on the deal, and the day eventually arrived. Waiting for the hearing to begin, Shinji approached Tomo with a figure. He had spiked, black hair that came off the front of his head. He wore a blue suit, with a red tie, and fine leather shoes. "Who the hell are you?", Tomo said, seemingly uncaring that she was at the hearing that would decide if she would recieve jailtime. "I...", the man said in a fairly overdramatic fashion, "am _Griffin Left!_", which he said unusually loudly whilst pointing his finger in the air. Tomo kept relatively nonchalant, "So, you're my attorney? Are you the best they have?". He scratched at the back of his neck, looked at the ground and said, trying desperately not to be heard, "Well... second best.". Tomo exploded in the middle of the court lobby. "_**What? Second best! Shinji promised me the best! This is a sham! Why the hell am I here**_?", she said, giving no heed to fact that she had now attracted the attention of everyone waiting for the hearing. Yomi, who was skipping a lecture to view the hearing, put her hand over her face and sighed. Tomo had changed, but the old her was still there. The hearing began and she quieted, knowing that this would be a very good indication of her attitude to the judge. She walked in making the most innocent she could think of. As everyone walked in, she followed Griffin to the stand, with a face that attracted the immediate attention of everyone around her, smiling brightly, obviously faked. Griffin whispered, "Just try to look natural.". Tomo's face squashed back into its scowl as she said, "I _was _looking normal.". She went back to her awkward smile immediately afterwards. The judge looked over, and saw her desperately trying to act natural. Several hours past, Griffin arguing it out with the prosecutor, who seemed relatively disinterested, to Shinji's contempt. At the end of the hearing, the judge announced his final decision. (Warning: legal systems do NOT work this way, whining about it in comments is for squares) "Due to one of the jury members' failure to show up, what would have been a definite vote now has 11 votes and my decision, rather than the full thirteen, and it's split directly down the middle. In this case, the judge's vote overrules all, and in that case...". Tomo seized up in the few seconds it took for the judge to say "...Tomo Takino, you are not guilty. All charges of manslaughter will be applied to the offender who caused you to fire the shots.". Tomo was grinning like a maniac, and she looked at Yomi, who was sitting in the audience, glowing equally, who gave her a thumbs-up. "But...", the judge added, "you can never serve in any police force again.". Tomo was suddenly crushed, realizing that she would need to restart her entire life plan from this point onward. "I guess I'm not serving jailtime...", she thought to herself. "Who,", she asked the judge, "was the missing jury member who saved me? So I can thank them.". "Her name," the judge replied, "is Ayumu Kasuga.". Tomo looked at Yomi again, whose eyes were agape. After the hearing, and thanking Griffin, the two left. Tomo put her hands behind her head as they walked, look upwards and said, "I wonder who Ayumu Kasuga is...". Yomi responded, "You don't even remember five years ago? High school?". "This Kasuga person went to high school with us?", she asked. "Yeah," Yomi responded, "Remember? Osaka?". Tomo literally felt her mind being blown.

_Author's Note: _I love jarring shifts in tone.


	4. Chapter 4

Differing Paths...

Chapter Four

Ayumu Kasuga sat in her apartment. She looked at the wall, as she did every morning. Or was it 'morning'? She couldn't tell anymore. She stared at the wall for another half-hour, and decided to see the rate of progress of the outside world. She opened the curtains, and a blast of sunlight. She jumped down, and covered her head with her blanket. She awoke a few hours later. "Sunrise.", she thought to herself as she looked out the window, "Or was it sunset?". She sat on her bed and watched TV. By the time she had brought herself away from the set, it was dark again. She decided to sleep. The next morning she looked at the wall, as she did every morning. Or was it 'morning'? She couldn't tell anymore. Thus, was the life of the hikikomori. After making it into college, the group of friends was quickly disconnected due to their different studies, as well as travel, and though some had stayed together, Osaka quickly fell behind. She dropped out of school a few months in without the rest noticing once. She had lived in her apartment, never leaving, and eating occasionally off of her parents' living allowance. She hadn't been outside in a year and a half, but that was fine, given she was the type who could be perfectly satisfied in those conditions. The last time she had was when she met her neighbor the first time. While making her occasional change of clothes, she saw a shadow over the crack in the wall she had spent so much time examining. She walked outside, the middle of Winter, and entered the man's unlocked apartment. The walls were plastered with anime, manga, doujins, games and figures, as well as every piece of concievable bishoujo merchandise. "If you wanted to look at me, why didn't you just ask?", she asked, looking him straight in the eye. The otaku froze in his tracks. He wondered, were his dreams coming true? Was he hallucinating? Or, was this person really that maladjusted? The rest of the many hours he had put in watching her through the wall crack when she was doing other things hinted towards that, as she hadn't left her apartment in years and she spent every day doing strange and mundane actions, with most of the time being sleep. He desperately tried not to stare at her. She said, "Sorry, but the shows I usually watch at this time are on! I think... Anyways, if you ever want to look through the hole again, just knock beforehand.". The otaku stared into space for a few seconds. He would later make what would later be considered one of the greatest H-games of all time around this very concept. Despite all this, they never talked again. He would still look through the crack occasionally, but far less than he used to, afraid of the awkward situations that could take place. August 28th was another Wednesday for Ayumu Kasuga. The agenda: sleep, study the room, sleep, look outside, sleep, watch TV, sleep. Midway through her morning (or was it?) room-study, the doorbell rang. She had only heard that sound twice, a mail delivery bringing her a gift from an old uncle, and the lone visit she had had with the others while in college. She sat there, feeling uneasy. Should she open it and respond? Or let things continue to be so simple? Osaka was known for her lack of forethought into much, and opened the door after a half-second period of consideration. It was Tomo and Yomi, arrived to give her their thanks. "Oh! Hello!", she said, with more emotion that the others had remembered her for. Yomi figured it was just memory exagerrating her spaciness, but she seemed, more than ever, as she had remembered. "Come in...", Osaka said, her voice nearly at a whisper. "Oh, sorry,", she said again, "it's been a while since I talked to anyone.". The two walked in. Osaka's apartment was almost empty, with just a TV, a bed, and random supplies lying around. Tomo looked around, walking backwards and bending her neck slightly to get a better view of things. "This is a pretty nice place.", she said, staring at the ceiling as she did. "Oh, thanks.", Osaka replied. "So,", Yomi said, sitting down on the bed, "what do you do?". "Um...", Osaka stared around while it seemed she was thinking about something, "I sleep, and I watch TV. And... I...", she was about to continue, but Tomo cut her off. "No, work, stupid!", she said. "Oh...", Osaka replied, looking off into the distance. Tomo and Yomi wore bright smiles, now seeing one of their best friends from the one time life was truly great. "Not really much of anything, actually.". Their grins began to crack a little. "W-what do you mean?", Yomi asked, afraid of the answers she could get. "I've been hikikomori for almost four years.". Yomi nearly snapped right there, but tried to keep the friendly visage up. "Well...", she said, trying desperately to find something to say to that, "You certainly keep your house clean for a hikikomori.". She knew that was probably the wrong thing to say, but this was Osaka, it should be okay. "Really?", Yomi exclaimed, almost shouting, "What's it like not having to do anything?". "It's pretty fine.", she said, "Though sometimes it can be a bit boring.". Yomi decided to finally step in, "Are you sure this is good for you?". "Why?", Osaka wondered, turning her head to the side. "You know, like, are you doing anything wrong? I know hikikomori tend to become drug addicts or otherwise harming themselves. You aren't like that, right?". She gave a moment to let the statement sink in. "Nope.", Osaka replied quickly and in an oddly casual nature. "Well, that's a relief.", Yomi thought to herself, quickly before being cut off with a "Well..." on the part of Osaka. This is what Yomi had dreaded. During this rather intense exchange, Tomo simply wore a face of slight confusion and moved back a little. "Well...", Osaka continued, "except for the pharmaceuticals I always took.". Yomi was so glad, but at the same time so shocked, Her emotional response didn't get much time, as it was cut off by Tomo's "Well, _that_ explains a lot!". Osaka and Tomo laughed, and Yomi nearly wanted to strangle the both of them. But, that feeling came up a lot around Tomo, so she decided to just let it slide. "How about we finish this conversation outside?", Yomi asked, hoping to be able to get in touch with Osaka and tell her to end her hikikomori ways. "Alright!", Osaka said, with a bright smile. The three walked into the warm, early-September night. They talked, until Osaka finally managed to get around to the topic on all of their minds. "So, why did you guys come to see me after this long?". Yomi was about to explain the whole situation, when Tomo cut her off the first word she spoke. "Well, there was this robber, and I was setting up an ambush, and there were snipers, and we fought, and she cut my eye, and... Long story short, I accidentally killed twenty-nine people.". Osaka looked appalled. Yomi, ever the onlooker, was glad to see that Osaka could respond to news like that the way a normal person would. Tomo continued, "Anyways, they took me to court and I had a crappy lawyer and there were supposed to be twelve jurors, but you didn't show up because you were hikikomori, and I got off free!". "So,", Osaka said, appearing to be in deep thought, "You made it into ICPO?". Tomo's face turned, for a few seconds, into that of extreme rage. Yomi cut in, feeling good in being the one to cut comeone else off for once, "She was in talks, and technically counted as an ICPO officer, but she had to stick to cases inside Tokyo. But it would seem that this little incident would put a hamper on that.". Tomo quickly snapped, "Well, at least I'm making us money! Miss The-Framed-Version-Of-My-Official-Diploma-Isn't-Here-So-I'm-Not-Even-Going-To-Try-To-Get-A-Job-Outside-Of-Humiliating-Service-Work-But-Am-Really-Just-Afraid-Of-Failure!". "Oh yeah, you- killer of innocent civilians, are clearly a saint compared to someone like me, someone who actually worked to get where they are!". They kept going, but eventually, Yomi looked away as Tomo kept snapping. Eventually, Tomo looked too. They saw that Osaka had disappeared into the crowd. They stood there, wondering between them what the impilcations of this were, and what might become of her. Tomo broke the first breath in the intensity of the moment.

"I suppose some people just... _drift._"


	5. Chapter 5

Differing Paths...

Chapter Five

Two girls stood on the old stone bridge. Their high school graduation ceremony had ended, and it was one of the rare times they had been alone. The shorter of the two was incredibly awkward, and had been trying to find the words to say since they had met. They were friends, but that wasn't enough for her, and she knew that there was potential. She was teetering on the edge of crying from not being able to think quickly enough. It had been three years, but why couldn't she have said something until now? This was the time. She prepared herself, opened her mouth, and as she was about to spit out the words, the taller of them cut her off. "I know what you're about to say,", she said, her hair blowing lightly in the breeze, "and it's mutual.". The othergirl had no idea what to say. She quivered slightly, and said, "Really? Because...", "I love you.". She finished the other's sentence, and they looked into each other's eyes. The taller of the two grabbed the other, and whispered, "I never knew when to say it...". The embracee was about to freak out from joy, but suddenly, the taller one shut out her cries with a kiss. The wind continued blowing lightly, and they remained in the embrace. The taller of them began unbuttoning the shorter's shirt. "No... Not here...", she whispered, only to be met with a firm, "I don't care who sees.". They began tearing at each other's clothes on the bridge as the sunset. They laid down on the bridge and... Kaorin never made it that far. It was already over by the time she had gotten to the good part, but it was always enough. She was only really waiting for the main event. She was lucky to be able to get an apartment with a decent view of Sakaki's, as well as one with blinds rather than curtains, as to be less suspicious. It was ten PM, fairly late, but Kaorin didn't mind losing sleep. She looked into the binoculars and looked towards the entrance of Sakaki's apartment. Kaorin hadn't been able to tell Sakaki what she felt, and swore that she would one day. She would reveal her presence as 'happening to be a neighbor', and they would fall in love. It was the way it was meant to be. And although she would be willing to do anything for Sakaki, Kaorin had no idea what work Sakaki would be doing that would cause her to be out unt. Suddenly, Sakaki entered her apartment, wearing the same cold expression she spent most of the time, though seemingly more than usual. Kaorin looked on intently, and began thinking about the old stone bridge, hoping Sakaki would take a shower. Suddenly, Sakaki began putting her coat back on, having grabbed a couple things. Kaorin, who spent all of her other spare time following her, ran to her dresser, put on some underwear, grabbed her work-jeans off the floor, put them on, and ran out the door. She sprinted through her apartment, and on the first couple blocks before Sakaki's apartment. She suddenly went into a slower walk, and began sticking near crowds of people in the street. She needed to make sure she had a view of Sakaki, as not to waste her time. She saw that Sakaki was wearing a rather full-looking backpack, and wondered what she was doing with that amount of supplies. It was eleven PM on a Thursday, and Kaorin's life was about to change forever. Sakaki turned down an alleyway, and Kaorin quickly followed, though seeing that Sakaki had stopped in the alleyway, she ducked back out around the corner. She looked over enough that she couldn't be seen. Sakaki first pulled out a strange object from the backpack, black and shiny against the unlit concrete. It was... a wakizashi. Kaorin gasped, but as quietly as she could. Sakaki pulled out a large hood with a mysterious symbol scrawled across the front. Her shock soon turned into one of excitement, of obsession justified. She felt like she could do anything at that moment. Sakaki sheathed the blade and hid it in the hood, then put on the hood. She moved up a fire escape as quick as a flash, and Kaorin chased after her, believing to be able to play herself off as a capable partner in crime. She followed Sakaki, who soon jumped across a rooftop. Kaorin was deadly afraid of heights, but decided to run as quickly as she could to build up momentum. She jumped, and landed on the next roof, feeling like someone completely different. She kept going, following after Sakaki, trying to saty to the roofs with the most shadows and the smallest spaces between them. Sakaki looked back for a second, and Kaorin dove to the ground. She hit her nose on the ground. She felt a snap, and her nostrils began bleeding. She decided that, for Sakaki, she would keep going. What if something bad happened? Kaorin imagined Sakaki falling, only for her to catch her, and smiled, trying to ignore her injury and her lack of breath. Kaorin looked off the side of the rooftops, and saw that they were approaching Shinjuku. She wondered what business Sakaki would have in Shinjuku in the middle of the night. She ran out of breath, but kept running. Suddenly, a few roofs away, Sakaki began to weave erratically. "I wonder what's happeni-". At that moment, Kaorin was nearly shot. She fell, and stared at the ground where the bullet hit. She hadn't been affected, but the adrenaline hit her like a semi-truck. She stared at the hole in the rooftop, and thought that that was what could have happened to her. She just... stared. For another several seconds, she stood there and considered what could have been. She pulled a tissue, noticing that the blood from her nose was pooling around her. The police report said that there was a second robber, who was hit by the first lucky sniper to get a shot in at a miraculous six-hundred meters (the fact he was able to do so helped to get him a raise), and who bled out while trying to keep up with the first robber, and most likely died in the street below, but no body was found. She sat there, and started hearing more gunshots. Kaorin thought about the horrible things happening to Sakaki, and stood up, only to see that most of the snipers were gone, and that Sakaki was on top of the Opera City Art Gallery, with who she was unaware of as Tomo, holding her own with her sword. "Goooo, Sakaki!", Kaorin shouted as loud as she could, not caring if it gives them away or if Sakaki became aware of her presence. She quickly realized that no one could shout that far, and continued watching, cheering to herself. Suddenly, she saw Sakaki make a quick, sweeping slash. She shouted again, "Yeaaah, Sakaki! You can do it!". Suddenly, Sakaki jumped into the skylight. Kaorin began freaking out, and running towards the Opera City Gallery hoping to save her, holding her tissue up to her face. Suddenly, Kaorin heard, "_I hope this gets to you, you fucking asshole!", _and a helicopter flew over. It suddenly swerved into the skylight in a blaze. Kaorin fell to the ground. She was about to start crying, but a sudden burst of determination caused her to climb down a ladder and run straight there as fast as she could. She felt her nose feeling better, and finally arrived after a few more minutes, only to be passed straight by by Sakaki, running away from the scene, the blood-spattered hood behind her, and sword sheathed to her jeans. A month had passed, and Kaorin was still stalking Sakaki, who had moved in somewhere else, much to her chagrin. Though, it was easier to see Sakaki, who now had all the free time in the world, having sold the near-priceless artifact on the black market for two billion yen. She lived in a penthouse apartment, convieniently placed near a hotel, which Kaorin could use for in-home surveillance, as well as to make her "Oh, I was just in the hotel..." introduction as planned. One would think Kaorin would be put off by the revelation of her object of obsession as a cat-burglar, but that just made it harder to keep from following her. Soon afterwards, dependant on her "Hey, I was just around..." plan, in addition to a sizable savings account she had built up, she quit her job and began following Sakaki 24/7. Unfortunately (or perhaps, fortunately), she could never possibly afford the rent in the area Sakaki now lived in, prime real estate near quite a few shopping districts. Kaorin went to bed, laid down, and sighed.

"_Sakaki..."_


	6. Chapter 6

Differing Paths...

Chapter Six

The furthest back Sakaki could remember was the explanation of the training when she was seven. Her father, Satou, sat her down in their cabin on the back porch. He looked her straight in the eye, and said to her, "You know how you asked me a year or two, if we would ever be like the heroes in stories?". She gave him a wide grin and a bright "Yes!". "Good,", he replied, with a dry look on his face, a mixture of humor and regret, "because, starting today, you _are _the hero.". That day, the training began. Her parents had conditioned her all her life for this very experience, in ingenious methods of subconcious influence. They mainly did this through stories. One such story was about the wolf, who was the greatest hunter in the entire forest, but was chaotic and had no control over his emotions. One day, the fox decided to get the largest portion of the food for himself, and so he planned exactly how he would do it, judging by where the rabbits ran every day, and taking into account the wolf's actions. The wolf ran in unprepared, and the fox caught the rabbits. The wolf, in the rage of being unable to eat that day like the fox had so many times before him, swore revenge upon the fox. The fox made another plan, and the wolf's revenge was his own downfall. They taught her the importance of keeping oneself seperate from their emotions, and the importance of rolling with whatever happened. Her father had her training planned from the beginning. It was the once-a-generation training method used by each family of the "Neko-Dorobou-Society", as they called it. The regiment was spending all day, from sunrise to sunset, training. The first day of this was agonizing for Sakaki, still incredibly small, going through strength training and blade practice. Over the years, Sakaki's father had made her strong and agile, and her mother had made her a master of everything from the rapier to the claymore. They pressured her into developing her own style, as each previous member to go through the progress had. When she turned ten, the Second Program began. On the first day of the Second Program, Satou revealed that the woman Sakaki thought was her mother, Yoko, was merely a weapons expert he had brought along to help in the training process, and that he had never really known her mother. He proceeded to reveal every other secret he could tell to scar a child over the course of weeks, ending in his intention to marry Yoko, despite his only use for doing so would be the continued training. Sakaki fell into a severe depression shortly afterwards, mostly from pure overwhelming emotion over time. The tradition amond the clan was to send the child to another of the three families. They traded her to another program, where she learned martial arts, and was subjected to any and all things to let go of her emotions. When she was younger, Satou realized that she had a 'feeling' personality, and was the type who would likely end up being hyperactive without something bringing her down to reality. No one knows what happened to Sakaki at the Second Program with her new master. Fortunately, whatever unspoken horrors took place there, they managed to turn her into the cold paragon of efficiency they always wanted her to be, and a skilled athlete, though she still hadn't developed her own style as of yet. At the age of fifteen, they decided it was alright to have her communicate with the outside world. She went through a crash-course lesson in social skills, and what she would tell people if they asked certain questions, specifically about her past. She entered high school, and remained incredibly shy to prevent having to use her much-too-new skills. She quickly developed one thing that had slipped past her repression: cats. Somehow, the creatures had managed to slip by her air-tight psychological protection. Quickly, she began obsessing over them, and with little capability of loving anything else, why wouldn't she? Satou noticed this, and soon after seeing her newly found obsession, adopted tens of cats, had them declawed, angered them, and set them out into the streets of the neighborhood they were in, hoping to disarm this newfound interest. However, between an incident involving a wild cat in Okinawa, as well as her ever-expanding connection to her friends, she learned to enjoy things again. She began veterinary college, hoping not to get caught up in the family trade. One night, however, that plan was broken. She entered her apartment, looked in, and found a hooded figure, wearing the cloak of the clan. "What's a hero wasting her time in college for? She should be living a life of adventure.". The wildcat, still fairly small, though beginning to show his feral side, growled at the figure. "Father...", Sakaki whispered, "I hope this isn't...". The hooded figure stepped forward, the light exposing his mouth as he wore a smirk, "...Another program.". Sakaki went into her closet, and drew her chosen weapon, a wakizashi. "Well,", the hooded figure said, "it's nice you've at least selected a weapon. But this is the final stage.". He drew a gun on her. "I had to do it, too. Age twenty, the style-test. The mark of a true thief is skill in an impossible situation. I'll give you ten seconds to work out a way to do it. At ten, I shoot, and you draw.". Sakaki, unaware that something like this would happen, stood there and stared at the barrel of the gun. Was this really the end? She recalled one of her classes, about the muscle system of the cat, and the way it extends its legs into a pounce. The pressure points and muscles involved, a similar structure to a small muscle point in the thigh of the human anatomy, which she had learned during her thorough analysis of the human weak points in combat training. "Nine...", Satou whispered, his eyes tearing slightly, "Ten!", he shouted. She moved forward with speed and grace previously unseen by human eyes, unsheathing her blade at an equally ridiculous pace. In a single leaping movement, her father's arm was cut off from the elbow. He fell to the ground, as blood leaked out of the wound like melted ice from a plastic bag. Sakaki stood above him, entirely indifferent, though shocked at her own near-death. "Good...", he said. He could see the second program had done its job, and that she had developed her own style. She was going to be the best they'd ever seen. More blood sprayed out, and Sakaki continued watching as her father bled out. "...", he murmured a breath, before falling over, dead. Mayaa licked up some of the blood, Sakaki cracked a smile, and petted the cat's head. At that moment, she realized the society's role, and her role in it. That night, planning began.


	7. Chapter 7

Differing Paths...

Chapter Seven

Tomo stormed into the police station, wearing red, thick-lensed aviator sunglasses and a long, dusty brown jacket. The receptionist asked her, "What are you here abou-", but was cut off with a revolver pressed against her forehead. Fortunately, the receptionist's office was quiet, with little in the way of security. "Let me through.", Tomo said, wearing a facial expression that fit somewhere between "smirk" and "glare" on the spectrum of sardonic expressions. "I'm involved in the case.". She put the guns into their holsters, hidden under the jacket. She ran through the main police office, and went to the forensics laboratory. She had only been in there once of her many cases, in the case of a serial killer she was tracking. Good days. She knew she had little in the way of time, and went to the evidence records. Tomo had read the police report in the weeks of her recovery, and learned about the presence of a second offender. However, unlike the report, she held the theory that the second offender might still be alive, and that she could kill them as the first part of her multi-tiered plan of revenge, and get the identity of the wakizashi-wielding burglar. She pulled out the evidence file marked "Blood Sample, Offender B, MIA, Presumed Dead.". She performed as many tests on the file as she possibly could, and ran home with it to perform the few tests she could without supplies. The genetic-decoder at the station matched the basic information to a list of five-hundred her own personal research, she had gotten the list down to five, and used a similar tactic at a municipal information hall as she did at the police station to retrieve their addresses. She arrived at the home of the first, a tiny apartment near Akihabara. She knocked on the door, her glasses reflecting sunlight into her eyes, her hands on her guns. Inside was a strange looking girl, with sharply-done, blue-dyed hair. "Hmm?", she said, staring at Tomo. "Do I know you?". "I don't assume so.", Tomo rebutted. "Are you sure? I feel like I've seen you before...", the strange person answered, yawning slightly. Tomo looked over a the girl's shelves, covered in anime, manga, H-games, and figures. "Aw, man!", Tomo shouted, all pretense of seriousness removed, "This collection is killer! What's thi-". The girl pushed the book, called "Azu-"something, though Tomo couldn't see it. "That,", the girl said, "would could irrevicable damage to the universe in which we exist.". Tomo was slightly irked at her inability to look at the book, and decided that she should get to business. She looked at the card on which she wrote all the people's names and addresses, as to remember this one's name. "Konata Izumi!", Tomo shouted, as dramatically as possible, "Do you have affiliations with one wakizashi-using cat burglar!". She pulled both her guns, and pointed them straight at the girl's eyes. "_What?_", the girl answered, confused. "That sounds like something out of some ridiculous piece of pulp trash. Well, I suppose it is though...". Tomo stared at the girl, confused, knowing that something deeply strange, potentially paradoxical was taking place inside this apartment. "And you're sure you've never been on TV?", the girl asked. "No! No! Gotta run! Bye!", Tomo shouted. As she ran, she thought that perhaps she had seen that strange otaku on TV as well. Weird. She proceeded to go through each of the others on the list, until there was only one. Kaori Aida, living in an apartment in a non-descript suburb. Tomo thought she may have heard of the name, but she had no idea. What she did know was that she was going to kill Kaori Aida, having been able to tell from the others' reactions to the question and through subtle body language being able to tell they were telling the truth. She knocked on the door. She opened it, and saw a familiar face. "_Kaorin?"_, Tomo shouted. _"Tomo?"_, Kaorin shouted in reply. They stood there, staring at each other, for a few seconds. "But... Kaorin? What a disappointment! This was supposed to be my first kill! The first on the ladder of bad guys that led to my final revenge! But... Kaorin? She's absolutely harmless! Maybe the otaku's negative vibes _were_ a sign...", Tomo thought. "Tomo? And now? Why would she be here?". Tomo decided to hell with it that she was just going to start this. She jumped, spun herself to a half-vertical position in midair, and kicked Kaorin, causing her to fly into her apartment, crashing through a (to be fair, fairly weak) wooden table. Kaorin began to heave and weep on the ground, "But... _why?_". Tomo wondered why heroism didn't feel good as it should. She shot next to Kaorin's head, to give her a shock. "_You associated with the one who scarred my face, ruined my career, and insulted my honour!",_ she yelled. Kaorin screamed, "_What? Please don't kill me...". _Tomo smacked her in the back of the head, whispering, "Keep it down. Don't want it to look like there's something horrible going on here. But, you have to die. Simply as a message to that damned wakizashi-wielding burglar.". Kaorin froze. She realized what it was that prompted this arrival. Tomo had made it to ICPO, and she was the one who Sakaki struck down. Kaorin said, "I know what you're talking about! But... I don't remember it too well...". Tomo cocked the guns simultaneously, and pressed them both against Kaorin's forehead. _"Okay! Okay! Here's what happened..."._ Kaorin explained how she was involved. As the story continued, Tomo's face drooped, realizing that there was no "second offender". The only difference between what happened and what Kaorin said was that Sakaki's name was never mentioned. "Alright...", Tomo said, spinning her gold revolver, which reflected light coming in from the blinded apartment window. "I'll spare you.". Kaorin began laughing. "But,", Tomo said, in a slightly darker tone, "what was the burglar's name?". Kaorin considered refusing the information and taking death as an alternative to letting Sakaki be caught, but her thoughts were cut off by Tomo losing patience. Tomo walked towards Kaorin, who had been cowering on the floor since she was kicked, bleeding slightly, and pointed her gun down at her. "Tell me, or I shoot.". She had learned this trick from a spy movie. "N-no. I don't want them caught. They're too dear to me.". "Alright...", Tomo said, with a casual tone of voice, "I guess I'll have to shoot.". Kaorin began sweating. She looked into the barrel of the gold revolver pointed at her, took a gulp, and prepared for death, thinking of Sakaki. Tomo pulled the trigger. Kaorin felt the whiteness come over her, sucking her into death. In a few seconds, she awoke to a horrible, burning pain. She looked down, and saw that Tomo had shot, and blown off the top half of her pinkie finger. Tomo saw this, and realized the screaming was about to begin. She grabbed a rag of of the stove and put it in Kaorin's mouth. She kneeled down and looked into Kaorin's eyes. "Now, you're injured. Only someone with professional-level medical expericnce, such as myself, would be able to save you at this point. Now, tell me the offender's name, or I'm going to do the same to your thumb, lock you in, and let you bleed out. And let me tell you, that is not a pleasant experience. I have a high-power painkiller here with me, as well as a prosthetic. I'm offering to end the pain. Now, what was the burglar's name?". The pain surging through Kaorin's body was worse than she could possibly imagine, and she did what all people do in situations such as this- succumb to the temporary demands of the body, sacrificing all previous plans. "It...", she said, removing the rag, and trying not to scream, "Wa-Auuugh! It was... Sakaki.". Tomo's eyes widened. "Sakaki... Like, from school?". "Aaaahhh! Yes! Pain! Killer! Now!", Kaorin responded. "Ah, yes.". Tomo spun out her medical kit. She brought this just in case she wanted to pull some _Audition_ stuff on them, were they deserving enough. The painkiller was just in case they were sympathetic. Tomo had prepared, but unfortunately, all of her preperations were based on exploitation movies. Fortunately, on the other hand, she did get herself in a very exploitation-movie-esque situation, and patted herself on the back for that. She stabbed the much-longer-than-it-probably-should-be needle into Kaorin's wrist as she squirmed. Kaorin let out one last yelp of agony, before falling immediately to sleep. Tomo stood above her.

"_Goodnight, sweet prince. Y'know, I almost feel bad for you."_

Tomo dropped the prosthetic pinkie finger next to Kaorin, and left.


	8. Chapter 8

Differing Paths...

Chapter Eight

Sometimes, life doesn't turn out the way one plans. A perfect example of this would be a particular darkly-clothed figure, standing on the street in the midst of a rainstorm. She hailed a cab, and got inside. She stared out into the street, the lights reflecting off the raindrops on the cab window. She looked out and wondered why is was her who had to follow this path. She was seventeen, and had become one of the lower-tier specialists for Japanese police. Her name was Chiyo Mihama. Five years ago, when the girls last saw each other, they piled into Osaka's newly-found apartment, and hung around for a while. They had organized this meeting as one last hurrah before Chiyo's leaving that evening. They talked, and Chiyo left, prepared for glory during her time in America. America was different, and it took time to adjust, but beyond that, the experience was good. However, six months after she left, she had a surprise visitor to her visiting home. He was an eccentric, and little was known about him. He was pale, scrawny, and had shaggy black hair. "Hello?", said Shigeru Mihama, Chiyo's uncle. "Hello.", the figure responded, "I wanted to talk to a...", he pulled a piece of paper out his pocket with a strange posture in his wrists. "A Chiyo Mihama in this residence?". "Oh,", Shigeru responded, "she's at Parkway Center, downtown.". The sun was mid-way through the sky, shining brightly over the outdoor center. Chiyo was sitting down with a few friends, eating and otherwise enjoying their time at the place. Chiyo had turned thirteen several weeks ago. The man walked up to her and her two friends, Kirsty and Janet, stared at them for a few seconds, and made a waving motion twice, signaling to leaving their seats. (Author's Note: Unfortunately, we were unable to find the name of this mysterious man, though we could find several of his pseudonyms. Posting these would likely get this story pulled.) . Chiyo looked up at the pale figure from across the table, sitting with his legs crossed. Kirsty and Janet stood there for a few seconds, staring awkwardly, signaled to Chiyo that they were leaving and walked at an awkward almost-running pace. "Y-yes?", Chiyo asked. "Hello. My name is *. I work with the ICPO, as what is refered to as a 'specialist'. I had heard about you, due to your uncanny intelligence, and being the first Japanese student to make a five-grade skip. I was wondering, have you any interest in being a detective?". "M-maybe...", Chiyo answered, very much afraid of this person. She heard about people pretending to be family friends to capture children, but members of the ICPO? "I know this sounds unlikely, but I want to take you back to Japan to help with a case.". "What?", Chiyo thought, frozen in place. Was this guy for real? "W-why me, *?", she asked, still nervous. "Because your mother and father are the latest victims.". Chiyo nearly jumped out of her seat, but tried to keep composed. "What?", she said, leaning in towards the man. "I said that your mother and father were killed by the perpetrator of a case I'm on right now, and I want to bring you back to Japan to help in the investigations. You were the closest person to them, and you have a logical intelligence rivalling even my own. Here,", he gave her a slightly damaged slip of cardboard-paper from his pocket, "is a return ticket to Tokyo. If you're interested, meet me at the airport at midnight. And in case you were wondering, here are some official documents proving all of what I just said. He leaned back, legs still crossed, in his chair, and stared out to the side, while Chiyo looked at the documents. The first was *'s official international police ID. The second was the police report in progress for the case, including, on its final page, a picture of her parents, shot. She sat there, and stared at the picture for at least a minute, and began to cry. "Don't worry,", the man said, keeping his cold tone, "this reaction is natural. I'll give you some time.". He looked off into the distance. She sat there, and continued weeping for around fifteen minutes. * looked over and saw her tears beginning to dry. "So, do you want to bring this monster to justice.". She sniffed a little, and looked upwards at him, a sullen glare on her face, "Yes. I'll be at the airport tonight.". Her voice was slightly less high-pitched than usual. Chiyo left a note for her aunt and uncle, took her ticket, and got a cab to the airport. She walked out onto a non-public runway hidden on the far end of the airport. She felt the night rain patter against her raincoat hood, and thus began her life as it would continue. Chiyo got out of the cab, and walked in. She passed straight by the receptionist, and walked into the main office, mainlining for the office of Chief Inspector Shinji Meida, whose name had been newly painted over Miyama's tag. She wore all black, with her red-brown hair kept fairly short, running mid-way down her neck. "Hello, Shinji.", she said, "you called?". Her voice had remained deeper, though her voice was naturally high pitched,and it was still fairly noticable. "Yes. We have a cat burglar, who had murders at will, and is now, thanks to our last case, responsible for the deaths of nearly thirty civilians, Former Chief Inspector Miyama, and the mandatory resignation of one of our most skilled specialists, Tomo Takino.". "Serious business...", she said to herself, messing with the snowglobe on Shinji's desk. "Alright,", she said, "I'll take the case. I'll need the force's complete resources.". Chiyo went over the entire office, researching everything, insuring the smallest-possible margin of error. She found her first clue in the forensics room, where a blood sample had been stolen, and fingerprints matching those of Former Third-Tier Specialist Division Officer Tomo Takino, dating from after her resignation. They had found their first connection, and were going to exploit it as much as possible. Chiyo, backed up by a small portion of the SWAT team, broke down the door of the Takino/Mizuhara household. Sitting there, reading a magazine, was Koyomi Mizuhara. "Freeze.", said Chiyo, lacking the usual force the phrase was said with, instead going with a firm but cold saying. Koyomi looked over, and there was an immediate memory to both of them. Chiyo also recalled that the suspect, Tomo Takino, was one of her group of friends from all those years ago as well. "Chiyo?", Yomi shouted, trembling backwards slightly, "What are you doing here? And... with a swat team? What?". Chiyo pulled out her liscense, shouting "Second-Tier Specialist Division Officer Chiyo Mihama! We're here to find a suspect, Tomo Takino.". "Oh...", Yomo replied. "She's... At work, at a restaurant on the northeast side of the city! Yeah. Go there.". Chiyo saw straight through this. "Where is she, Yomi? I know she's our friend, but she needs to be asked.". Yomi trembled for a second. "I... haven't actually seen her in a while. She left early this morning, then... I don't know what happened.". Chiyo looked into Yomi's eyes, and felt a genuine sincerity. "It's alright. I would assume she took her phone with her this morning?". The group of them reconnected the door, and walked out, prepared for a chase. Yomi sighed.

_Author's Note: _No one's reviewed this as far as I've seen, but I did get Sakaki's name wrong. She apparently has two family names, according to the fic. I hope that isn't too bad, and that you'll keep reading despite my mistakes.

_Author's Note Two: _Damn you, TV Tropes. This chapter took like three and a half hours to write because of your constant distraction.

_Author's Note Three: _Oh my god, people are reading things I've written. Squee!


	9. Chapter 9

Differing Paths...

Chapter Nine

It was 5 AM, and Tomo was on her motorcycle, halfway across town to a lavish penthouse apartment. Her relatively peaceful ride over to where she would get her revenge was suddenly interrupted by the vibration of her phone. "Yeello?", she said, a smile on her face. "Tomo!", shouted a voice through the line. It was Yomi. "What is it now?", she asked. "The police caught on to your little evidence-tampering scheme and that you could be involved.". "Well, I was. Why the rush?". "Tomo, this is serious. If they bring you back, they could connect you to what happened with Kaorin.". "Oh,", Tomo said, getting what was going on now, "alright. Bye!". She threw her phone on the ground, which smashed as it fell at 90 km/h. She kept driving, and drove into a back alley. Chiyo, sitting in the back of a SWAT van, shouted, "Dammit! She found out! This is probably Yomi...". She made a mental note for both of them to be tried for police evasion should they be involved. Tomo accelerated to ridiculous extents, travelling at slightly over 120 km/h through the small side streets. The SWAT van from earlier that night, on the job of following Tomo, warned that she was most likely armed and definitely dangerous. They accelerated similarly, and rushed after Tomo, following the last path provided by the tracker. Eventually, they had caught up to her. The two shot out onto a main road, thankfully fairly quiet. Otherwise, the accident count would be astronomical. The few cars there were pulled over. Tomo realized how close her trackers were, and stood up on her seat, backing backwards to the way they were moving. She started shooting at the front windows of the van, and around the tires. The SWAT van slid to the side, most of the bullets missing. Three of the SWAT team members got on the roof of the van, armed with grenade launchers and automatic weapons. Realizing that she was out-gunned, she knew her shots needed to be few, and lucky. She made five shots around the general area of the van's roof. One of the officers, dodging the shots, slipped. Another officer reached out his hand, but failed to catch the man, who crashed into the windshield of a passing car, severely injuring both. The others each fired their grenade launchers at the base of Tomo's motorcycle, which flew into the air, Tomo still standing on the seat. She stood there, perfectly straight, almost nonchalantly, as the bike flew in an arc motion. She jumped on the top of the SWAT van, and shot the remaing two officers point blank. Somehow, her bike was still in decent condition and driving forwards entirely without control. Tomo jumped off the back of the van, and gripped the edge of the van's roof with the toes of her boots. She made a little waving motion to the people in the back of the van, and began firing wildly inside. Luckily, there were enough metal barriers and computers in the way to prevent the maximum number of casualties being taken. Of the team of eight and Chiyo, there were now only three, as well as Chiyo. Chiyo pulled a Mini-Uzi off of one of the team members' bodies, and shot in out the window. Tomo dodged, and landed back on top of the van. She jumped onto the motorcycle, still running slightly ahead of the van. They were nearly at Sakaki's apartment. Tomo slowed her motorcycle down, and the van's driver attempted to ram into her. She drove in next to the van, and jumped, pulling her motorcylce with her. Tomo, and the motorcycle, ran across the side of the van, the motorcycle ripping into the van's armor, and Tomo firing off shots rapidly into the side. Now, there was only Chiyo left in the back cab, the driver, and a lone team member who had moved to the front. Chiyo laid amongst the corpses, riddled with bullets, and grabbed a heavy automatic weapon. She picked it up, and jumped out the back. She reached for the roof of the van, and barely landed. What she was carrying was practically a gatling gun, armed with hundreds of rounds and explosives. She fired a shot from the grenade launcher. It impacted with the ground near Tomo, who was once again able to use the explosion as an arc, and flew over the van, firing off a few shots. Chiyo was desperate, and put the gun over her head. As it would turn out, between her tiny stature and it's massiveness, the gun was decent enough cover. Tomo accelerated ahead, knowing she was in the home stretch. This wouldn't pass, if Chiyo had anything to do with it. She got down on one knee, and began firing off hundreds of bullets, aiming around Tomo rather than at her, so that she would crash, causing less damage. Tomo was braking rapidly, as to skid between the bullets chaotically. Chiyo kept firing as much as she could, ripping the pavement to shreds below Tomo's tires. They sat directly in front of Sakaki's lavish apartment building. The noise ripping through the street woke Sakaki, who got out of bed and looked down over the carnage that was still taking place. Chiyo began to sweat, due to the pure weight of the gun. She pulled the trigger as hard as she could for as long as she could, decimating everything that got in the way of her barrel, including one of Tomo's tires. Tomo, knowing this, kept going, riding off her previous momentum, and shooting sparks out of her back wheel as it scraped across the pavement. They were right in front of the apartment building. Chiyo fired another grenade launcher blast at the ground, launching Tomo into the air, her bike in tow. Chiyo gripped the gun as hard as she could, and jumped after Tomo. The pure force of the explosion had knocked them both four stories into the air. "Chiyo-chan?", shouted Tomo in midair. "Nice seeing you!", Chiyo shouted as they both landed on the motorcycle seat. It smashed straight through the fifth-story window of the apartment building, and the two rocked the bike back and forth, Tomo attempting to use the bike like a unicycle, Chiyo rocking back to get the wheel to slow them down. The five-year age difference still showed, and Tomo managed to hold her own in the rock-fight. She got up onto the back wheel, and jammed some gum in there, stopping the wheel's motion. Tomo and Chiyo began trading blows, as the bike rode up the stairs of the apartment building. There were thirty more floors to go, and they kept fighting the whole way. Tomo fired a shot off at Chiyo, which ripped through her hair. Ten floors to go. Chiyo had trouble hoisting the gun before, and was now under extreme stress due to trying to hold her own on a motor-unicycle whilst holding the gun, which was around two tmes the size she was. They finally arrived at the thirtieth floor, which was entirely Sakaki's. They broke straight through the locked door at the top of the stairs. They burst through, jumping off the bike. Sakaki, having planned their arrival, popped out of a small area next to the door and sliced the bike in half in midair with her wakizashi. The three stared each other down. Sakaki had no idea what was going on, and was shocked to see Chiyo again, but she didn't express it. Sakaki knew she could take both the others down in half the time it would take for them to work out the tendsion, then fire, and was tempted to do so. Chiyo put down the massive gun, and started laughing. Tomo and Sakaki both pointed their weapons at her. "What are you thinking?", Tomo asked, trying to do her best Clint Eastwood impression. Chiyo snickered, and fell to her knees. She laughed out loud right in front of the others, who put their weapons at standby out of pure confusion. They sat for a couple seconds, and Tomo became sick of it. She ran at Chiyo, and put her gun against her forehead. Chiyo snickered again, "If you strike me down...", she held back laughter, "...I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.". Tomo shouted, "_You think this is some joke?"_. Tomo cocked her pistols, and placed them back against Chiyo's forehead. Suddenly, the familiar _clapclapclapclapclapclapclap _pf helicopters surrounded the opulent apartment, which had glass outside walls. "If you strike me down,", Chiyo whispered to Tomo, "I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.". Tomo realized what she meant, and looked at Sakaki, who nodded at her, and ran towards the nearest outside-window to her. At that moment, the enemy of Tomo's enemy was her friend. She jumped through the hole Sakaki left, cutting her arm slightly on the way out. The two met in midair, and Sakaki gripped Tomo's hand. A helicopter shot an explosive blast at the two, which smashed a large number of windows across the side of the apartment building, and sent Sakaki and Tomo, who was still in her arch-nemesis' arms as they flew. It almost seemed as though Sakaki was riding the windstream under them, even controlling it. The two flew over the city as the sun rose. Tomo couldn't deny it was a beautiful moment, no matter what would happen next. Nearly every one of the commuters in the surrounding area saw the two of them flying. It would later become the highest-viewest video on Nico Nico Douga. Sakaki aimed the two of them towards a waterway, for boats to travel inwards from the sea. Tomo realized what was about to happen, and prepared for the fifty-foot fall into the water. The two of them fell, going what had to be hundreds of kilometers per hour. Tomo, borderline-insane as she was, kicked Sakaki, increasing the speed of her fall, hoping for her revenge to be fulfilled. Unfortunately, this also put her own impact head-first. The water stung Sakaki's skin and blew the air out of her lungs. Tomo repositioned herself, but suffered a bit of a head wound, as well as similar effects to Sakaki's fall. Sakaki rose gracefully out of the water, and climbed onto the boat gate. Tomo got up, her head bleeding severely. She pointed her guns at Sakaki, and fired wildly despite her knowing Sakaki's incredible speed, skill, and her having the high ground. Sakaki simply stood there as the bullets missed. Tomo knew it would be best to stay at long range, but she had to finish this before the cops arrived and gunned them both down. She ran straight at the boat gates. Sakaki prepared to counter her and knock her down the ladder, which any sane person would take to get up the side. Tomo ran straight up the boat gate, and shot at Sakaki's foot. Sakaki pulled her foot back swiftly, and jumped at Tomo, slashing in the perfect motion as to prevent herself being shot. Tomo saw a boat coming, and realized she would just distract Sakaki until the boat came, at which point the gates would open, and Sakaki would be crushed. Not the best way to die, certainly not the proper way to die for someone of her grace and skill, but it was the only thing that could be done. Tomo jumped straight at Sakaki, who slid backwards and slashed at the air. It only slightly cut Tomo's skin, but it added to the large amount of bleeding. The boat was at least two minutes away. Tomo ran back across the center of the gates and shot at Sakaki. Sakaki was using the flat side of her blade her block the bullets. Tomo was irritated beyond belief. She ran straight at Sakaki, and felt the world going white around her. She was falling unconcious from blood loss. She got as close as she could, and shot out all of her ammo at Sakaki at close range. She fell, and couldn't possibly get up. She went blind, but knew Sakaki was there. As she felt the boat gates opening under her, she whispered to Sakaki, "Wh-Who taught you how to do that? It certainly is impressive...". Sakaki whispered back,

"_Kimura."_


	10. Chapter 10

Differing Paths...

Chapter Ten

Tomo's unconcious body laid on top of the gate, her arm outstretched across the other side. As she laid, a boat, completely unaware of her presence, began to approach the gates. The gates opened, and Tomo came rolling down the front side of the gates. She hit the concrete on her side, and her head was fully submerged in the water below. The boat rocked forward with a mechanical clank. The head of boat came in, making Tomo fully invisible to the driver. The boat moved forward fully. It ripped into Tomo's side, and flattened her torso under its pressure. The boat moved fully forward, crushing her further. Her arms and chest were ripped apart, and her legs were broken by the impact. Luckily, her head was unaffected, and she was fully unconscious, making it impossible to die of shock. Chiyo rode in overhead by helicopter, as the rest of the squad from back at the tower flew in. The helicopters dropped their rope ladders, and numerous medical and police staff dropped down, Chiyo included. She looked down at Tomo, severely mutilated, but clearly breathing. The medical team took her away.

6 AM. Koyomi Mizuhara's phone rang. She picked up, with a nonchalant, "Hello?". Her tone went straight from casual to serious the moment she heard Chiyo's voice on the other side. "What is it now?", she said, cutting Chiyo off. "It's Tomo, she-". "Yeah, I got that.". "Anyways, she caused severe public damage.". "_No, really? Tomo? Causing public damage? _Never heard that one before.", Yomi spat sarcastically. "Anyways, we need you to come down here to the hospital and deal with her legal situation.". Tomi's face went deadpan. "It's not like we're married or something.". "Yomi, she's in a coma, and may not survive, let alone walk again.". "Ah,", Yomi answered, most emotion removed form her voice, "I'll be right over.". Yomi arrived in about a half hour, having had to walk quite a bit of the way. She arrived, and was immediately escorted upstairs by a few SWAT guys. A pretty high number of them were in the hospital, for two reasons. One was that they were the primary resource brought in during the chase. Secondly, if and when Tomo did wake up, they knew there was a good chance of her getting up and trying to shoot up the place. Yomi was soon lightly pushed into an office with Chief Inspector Shinji, as well as Chiyo. "Y'know what, guys?", she said immediately, "I say we do a non-present trial, press charges after she's out. Not that hard, guys.". Yomi walked out, despite the massive number of things left unresolved. That night, they were able to do a short, non-present judgement. She was given sentenced to death by cutting her life support. They went back to the hospital. Shinji handed Chiyo a mail-opener, saying "Would you do the honours?". Chiyo stared down at Tomo, and thought about the times they had had. She wanted to finish this madness, but it was hard to get over her own nostalgia. She handed it back to Shinji. "You do it.", she said, first in a whisper, then in an almost-shout. "Alright.". He reached the blade towards the cord. Suddenly, a massive pain rocked his entire body. He looked down, and saw Tomo, fully healed, holding her revolver. "_W-What?"_, Shinji screamed. "_I got better."_, Tomo said. He looked down, and noticed the massive hole blown in his wrist. He fell to the ground, spasming, and stood up, grabbing the opener desperately. "_I-It's impossible... You can't be healed... It's been less than twenty-four hours..."_. Before he cut the cord, she shot him in the chest, knocking him back. She shot three more times, and he practically sprinted backwards, smashing through the fifth-story window and out into the street. He looked up, barely alive, only to see a bus. His head exploded instantaneously under the wheel. Tomo pointed her gun at Chiyo. "You were always kind of annoying.". She fired. The bullet skimmed Chiyo's head, giving her a small cut, and blowing through her hair. "Tell the rest of 'em I'm coming.". Tomo unplugged the equipment hooked up to the wheeled bed, and stuck her leg off the side. She pushed the bed out the door, as Chiyo sat on the ground in shock. She pushed the bed out with a sudden burst of speed, shooting the two guards sitting by her door. She passed the office of the doctors working on her case. She fired off at a few more officers in the hallway, before shooting herself, the bed included, out of the window. The bottom of her hospital gown fluttered in the wind as she fell, landing roughly on the street. She went straight onto the road. The bed was going over a hundred km/h due to the momentum from the fall. She slid around a corner. avoiding the cars on the road. She saw a semi ahead, which would leave the path was taking considerably more narrow. The moment it arrived, she flipped the bed sideways, sliding it across the pavement. It released sparks as it skidded. She kept riding until she ran out of momentum, then left the bed in the middle of the road where it was. She was lucky to have gotten out of there. Tomo had healed after only eight hours in the hospital, and found that the police hadn't removed everything from her clothes yet, which laid on the ground in the room. The hospital staff left any patients' things in their room, and so they had. She grabbed everything from her jeans and jacket-pockets, as well as her holsters and guns, and put them into the hospital gown, which inexplicably could fit considerably more than it appeared to be able to, and continue to look as it would if there were nothing inside. Konata, watching from across town, looked over and said, "Contrivances are for hack writers!", despite there being no one in her house. Tomo hailed a cab, and rode as far as she could within bounds. Yomi was waiting there with her motorcycle, as expected. Yomi smirked. "You should be glad you have a concerned friend to plan things like this out for you.". Yomi was the one who had ensured the style of trial they used, as well as being the one who distracted the police from checking Tomo's pockets. The only thing she had told Tomo about was where she would be, and that she would get the motorcycle fixed. Tomo rode off into the distance, and Yomi took the same cab back home. Tomo rode as far as she could, her destination known. She drove as far as she could on as many tanks of gas as she could afford, and finally hit the temple. It laid just outside Tokyo Prefecture, on a hillside. Still wearing her hospital gown, she began climbing up the massive stairs towards the temple. Her phone rang. She pulled her phone out from its hospital-gown-based hammerspace and opened it. "'Ello?", she said. "What are you doing out of town anyways?". It was Yomi. "Ah, well, you know how in kung fu movies, the shamed master seeking revenge starts off with the grunt workers, in this case, Kaorin, then move up to the stronger ones?". "Uh, no.". "You clearly haven't seen enough kung fu movies. Anyways, I wasn't enough to beat Sakaki, and it was under pretty terrible circumstances, so I figured it would take one more practice fight to work my way up. And, in a kung fu movie, who's the next step up from the big bad's grunt workers?". "I... have no idea.". "Their master, of course! And I was able to get Sakaki to spit the name of her master before I passed out back there.". "Ah, so who was it?". "Are you ready to be shocked?". "Shock me.". "Kimura.". "No way! It's like fate's conspiring to bring the gang back together...". "So yeah, I'm just on my way to take the old man out now.". "Be careful... I don't even want to think about what might happen if you lose.". Tomo reached the top of the stairs. She took a deep breath, and kicked the red wooden doors open. Sitting there in the grass, slack-jawed as usual, was Kimura. He still wore his glasses, which reflected off some light. Tomo shot at him, but he immediately sidestepped from the sitting position. He got up, and stood in place. Tomo fired two shots. He stood there, as the perfectly-aimed bullets hit the ground in front of him. He continued standing there. His wife walked out into the yard from inside a small enclosure. "Honey, I have your tea... Oh.". She jumped out in front of figured that there was something about his fighting style that allowed him to avoid bullets with impeccable skill. Kimura's wife got up, and walked back inside. Kimura stayed still, staring at Tomo. She shuddered. Tomo decided to give up any pretense of defense, and ran straight at him. She jumped, and kicked at his chest. He grabbed her leg, bare from the force pushing against her hospital gown, and threw her to the ground. Tomo's mouth had a bit of blood hanging out of its edge, but she wasn't ready to give up. She ran at him, sidestepped behind him, and fired. He moved to the side, and gave a remarkably high kick to her shoulder. Tomo ran straight at him, guns blazing. Kimura weaved back and forth, nearly a flash from spot to spot dodging the bullets. He stood in one spot again. Tomo ran straight at him, but this time chose to slide under his arm, firing off whilst doing so. One of the bullets cut his arm slightly. He reached back, and backhand slapped her, knocking her on her back. "How,", he said, finally speaking, "is Sakaki?". "Just...", Tomo said while running straight at him again, "_fine!"_. He grabbed her arm, and put her into a pin on the ground, bending her arm. Tomo grunted, holding back the pain on the ground. "You see,", he said to her, leaning into her back on the ground, "Each member of the society is an amalgamation of their masters' styles. For instance,", he stretched her arm back further, "this I learned from my second master, user of Grapple style.". He pulled Tomo back, and suplexed her into the ground. Her arm was most likely broken at this point, but she fought the spasms and pulled her (still-holstered) pistol's trigger, while they were pressed together. At that moment, Kimura ended the hold and jumped back. "That, is what I learned from my original master, user of Reader style, the trait I passed on to Sakaki.". "W-wait...", Tomo whispered, saving her air, as she was currently winded, "I-if you knew Sakaki, why were you so weird to the group of us?". "I wanted to seperate her. The mark of a true fighter is their removal from all else. Such as myself.". Tomo kicked as high as she could, and flew towards Kimura, who blocked, and prepared a lower strike. Tomo dodged around to his back, at which point he spun, doing a similar kick to his previous shockingly-high one. Tomo slide under his legs, and jumped up while he was still moving back around, kicking him in the ribs, knocking him across the field in which they stood. He ran to the side of the temple walls, and ran in a circle around the edge. Tomo was confused, as this completely broke from his previous strategy. He ran straight at her, and she looked him in the eye as he ran. He lifted his arms, about to tackle her. But, he had underestimated her speed. She jumped backwards, and kicked him in the chest, jumped, kicked herself off of his shoulders, and fired a couple shots in midair, ripping straight into the back of his skull, red pieces of bone and matter falling out as the bullets arrived. Tomo leaned forward, pushing herself into a front flip, and landing flawlessly behind Kimura. "Yes!", Tomo shouted, hopping in the air with glee. She put a couple more bullets in Kimura's spinal column, just to be sure. The corpse twitched slightly. She looked back as she moved towards the doors, and saw his wife sitting on the grass next to his corpse.

"_Nothing personal!"_


End file.
